Editing Point Nepean

{{Short description|Geographic location}}
{{Coord|38|18|06|S|144|39|09|E|type:landmark_region:AU-VIC|display=title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2014}}
[[File:Point Nepean from Queenscliff.jpg|thumb|300px|View of Point Nepean from [[Queenscliff, Victoria|Queenscliff]]]]
[[File:PointNepean.jpg|thumb|350px|Engine House ruins on Point Nepean]]
'''Point Nepean''' ([[Boonwurrung language|Boonwurrung]]: '''''Boona-djalang''''')<ref>{{cite book |last=Clark |first=Ian D. |title=Dictionary of Aboriginal placenames of Melbourne and Central Victoria |date=2002 |publisher=Victorian Aboriginal Corp. for Languages |location=Melbourne |isbn=0957936052 |page=36}}</ref> marks the southern point of [[The Rip]] (the entrance to [[Port Phillip]]) and the most westerly point of the [[Mornington Peninsula]], in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], Australia. It was named in 1802 after the British politician and colonial administrator Sir [[Evan Nepean]] by [[John Murray (Australian explorer)|John Murray]] in {{HMS|Lady Nelson|1798|6}}.<ref>
{{citation
 |last= Flinders
 |first= Matthew
 |author-link= Matthew Flinders
 |title= A Voyage to Terra Australis
 |publisher= G. and W. Nicol
 |volume= 1
 |page= 212
 |year= 1814
 |place= London
 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=C-c-AAAAYAAJ}}, entry for 27 April 1802
</ref> Its coast and adjacent waters are included in the [[Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park]], while its land area is part of the [[Point Nepean National Park]]. The point includes [[Cheviot Beach, Victoria|Cheviot Beach]] on its southern side, notable as the site of the disappearance in 1967 of Australia's then-Prime Minister [[Harold Holt]].

==History==
Evidence of [[Australian Aboriginal]] settlement of the area dates back 40,000 years. [[Bunurong]] women often bore their children at the point.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/12/1071125658370.html |title=Portsea's point of contention |newspaper=[[The Age]] |date=2003-12-13}}</ref> Their name for the point was ''Boona-djalang'', which means 'kangaroo-hide', descriptive of the angular shape of the point akin to a stretched hide.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smyth |first1=Robert Brough |title=Aborigines of Victoria: With Notes Relating to the Habits of the Natives of Other Parts of Australia and Tasmania Compiled from Various Sources for the Government of Victoria. Volume 2 |date=1878 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108006569 |page=217}}</ref> There are 70 registered Aboriginal archaeological sites within the Point Nepean National Park.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/25/1061663731764.html|title=People power wins out at Point Nepean |newspaper=The Age |date=2003-08-26}}</ref>

The area's early settlers mined limestone from the coastal cliffs, and two [[lime kiln]]s were built around 1840. The [[Point Nepean Quarantine Station]] was opened in 1852<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1589658 |title=TINCONDEROGA. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |issue=21,979 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 January 1917 |accessdate=6 August 2024 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and is the second oldest intact quarantine station in Australia. It contains the oldest buildings erected for quarantine purposes in Australia, four of the main hospital buildings (established in 1857), pre-dating the oldest intact quarantine-related structures at [[Sydney Heads|North Head]], Sydney, by 16 years. The Quarantine Station operated until 1980.{{cn|date=August 2014}}

Australia's first major oil spill occurred off Point Nepean in 1903, with the wreck of {{SS|Petriana}}. It remained Australia's largest oil spill until 1975.<ref name=amsa>{{cite news |url= https://www.amsa.gov.au/marine-environment/incidents-and-exercises/petriana-28-november-1903 |title=Petriana, 28 November 1903 |publisher=Australian Maritime Safety Authority |access-date=15 March 2020}}</ref>

Point Nepean Post Office opened on 1 April 1859 but was closed by 1865.<ref name="a">{{Cite web |last= Premier Postal History |title= Post Office List |url= https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= |access-date= 2008-04-11}}</ref> Fortifications were built from 1878. Gun batteries were installed at [[Fort Nepean]] in 1886 and Eagles Nest in 1888. A gun battery was constructed at [[Fort Pearce]] in 1911. With the removal of coastal artillery after World War II, the facilities housed the Officer Cadet School (OCS) Portsea and later the School of Army Health from 1951 to 1998.

==Land==
{{ref improve|section|date=August 2014}}
Parts of Point Nepean were declared as a national park in 1988.<ref name=mgmtplan>{{cite book |url= http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/313356/Mornington-Peninsula-National-Park-and-Arthurs-Seat-State-Park-Plan.pdf |type=PDF |title=Mornington Peninsula National Park and Arthurs Seat State Park management plan |work=[[Parks Victoria]] |publisher=Government of Victoria |year=2013 |orig-date=1988 |edition=amended |isbn=978-0-7306-6743-8 |page=5 |access-date=23 August 2014}}</ref> The [[Australian Government]] offered to sell the land to the [[Victoria State Government]] in 1998 and again in 2001, but the state rejected the offer.

In 2002 the [[Department of Defence (Australia)|Department of Defence]] proposed selling {{convert|311|ha|acre}} of land for development, retaining {{convert|1.6|ha|acre}} which contained contaminated soil and unexploded [[Ammunition#Ordnance ammunition|ordnance]]. The proposed sale was abandoned in 2003 following strong community protest. In 2004, {{convert|90|ha|acre}} of Defence land was transferred to the Commonwealth government's Point Nepean Community Trust, which managed the former Quarantine Station until the land was transferred to the Victorian government on 8 June 2009. The Commonwealth also transferred {{convert|205|ha|acre}} of bushland (former Firing Range area) to [[Parks Victoria]] and the remaining {{convert|17.6|ha|acre}} to the [[Shire of Mornington Peninsula]] for community use.

The former Quarantine Station was opened to the community as part of Point Nepean National Park in December 2009; and the area is now managed by Parks Victoria as part of the [[Mornington Peninsula National Park]] and the [[Arthurs Seat State Park]].<ref name=mgmtplan/>

==Military==
[[File:PointNepean-2.jpg|thumb|250px|Point Nepean coastal trail.]]
Fortifications were built on land from 1878 onwards. Gun batteries were installed at [[Fort Nepean]] in 1886 and Eagles Nest in 1888. Barracks were constructed at Fort Pearce. With the removal of coastal artillery after World War II, the facilities housed the Officer Cadet School (OCS) Portsea from 1951 to 1985 and later the School of Army Health until 1998. 3,544 officer cadets graduated as Army officers from OCS Portsea (including 30 RAAF officers and 688 foreign officers) with 20 graduates [[killed in action]] (KIA) overseas including Malaya, Borneo, South Vietnam, Cambodia and Philippines. 

Some of the historic features include (major features shown in bold):

*Gun Junction &mdash; gun barrel ruins and guard house
*'''Norris Barracks''' &mdash; incorporates buildings from the former Quarantine Station
*25m rifle range
*Cattle Jetty Ruins (1879) &ndash; Observatory Point
*Point Nepean Cemetery (1854&ndash;1952)
*'''Cheviot Hill'''
:WW2 gun emplacement, battery and observation post
*Machine Gun Emplacement
*Eagles Nest
*'''[[Fort Pearce]]'''
:Pearce Barracks
:Gun Emplacements
*'''[[Fort Nepean]]'''
:Historical retaining wall
:8 Gun Emplacements
:Engine House
:Historic Gun Barrels
:Tunnels

==Environment==
[[File:Lagurus Ovatus at Point Nepean National Park.jpg|alt=Lagurus Ovatus on the walk between Quarantine Station and Gunners Cottage|thumb|Hare's Tail on the walk between Quarantine Station and Gunners Cottage]]
The coast of Point Nepean contains intertidal reef platforms with high invertebrate diversity as well as subtidal reefs with diverse communities of fish, invertebrates and encrusting organisms such as [[ascidian]]s, [[sponge]]s Dale and [[bryozoan]]s.{{cn|date=August 2014}}

==Development==
The Government of Victoria called for tenders to develop the site in 2013/14 and a local developer was selected. All the heritage and most of the other facilities will remain and the site will be converted into a health spa resort, upmarket & budget accommodation, cafes and a University of Melbourne research facility.{{cn|date=August 2014}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikivoyage|Point Nepean National Park}}
{{Commons category|Point Nepean}}
*[https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/point-nepean-national-park Point Nepean National Park] Parks Victoria
* Parks Victoria. (2006). Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park Management Plan. Parks Victoria: Melbourne. {{ISBN|0-7311-8349-5}}

{{Protected areas of Victoria|NP}}

[[Category:Parks of Greater Melbourne (region)]]
[[Category:National parks of Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Mornington Peninsula]]
[[Category:Port Phillip]]
[[Category:Headlands of Victoria (state)|Nepean]]
[[Category:Lime kilns in Australia]]